Banking On Stem Cells.

MayorBob.

Posted to SciTech on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 08:37:26 AM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.

Stem cells are medical science's new black.

They are touted as potential keys to unlock cures for muscle damage, spinal cord injuries, cancers, Parkinson's disease, and so on.  They have transcended science to become a major political battlefield.  Those moral and political issues aside, individuals can make the decision to capture and store stem cells their bodies produce.  As they say, show me a market niche and I'll find you a company or two willing to fill it.  So it is for stem cells.  As more people have become aware of this right to store their stem cells, medical services companies already heavily involved in storing cord blood have jumped at the chance of offer their services in capturing and storing other types of stem cells.  The question becomes, is this expensive, but potentially life-saving science or just more snake oil?

Cryo-Cell, one of the largest family cord blood banks, has begun telling women they're wasting millions of life-saving stem cells every month.  Bio-Eden, Inc., which specializes in baby-teeth stem cells, says "one day the tooth fairy could save your child's life."  StemLifeLine aims its marketing arrow at the people who have undergone IVF procedures, offering to harvest stem cells from the unused embryos and save them for future use when either the parents or their offspring come down with some dreaded malady.  The problem is, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of good, hard information that any of these stem cells would ever be good for much of anything.  According to Christopher Scott, of the Program for Stem Cells in Society:

"In the stem cell area, we have a problem with truth in advertising.  Some of these companies are skirting right on the edge of what's truthful and what's vaporware."

The problem is that all of these companies absolutely gush over the putative properties of stem cells and often list the many diseases they believe they will one day cure.  The problem is that, as of now, there is no known proof that stem cells from menstrual blood has any curative value.  Nor do stem cells from baby teeth.  The scientist who heads the lab which discovered baby-teeth stem cells says, "there's never been a demonstration that these cells actually form nerve cells that can function as nerve cells."  Even the collection of cord blood as "biological insurance" has been discouraged by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).  The AAP's position is that, if a child is born without a known disease risk, the likelihood that stored stem cells would ever be needed is a long shot.

Most certainly too long a shot to warrant the substantial costs involved in collecting and storing the materials.  The costs associated with the collection and processing of stem cells from menstrual blood range between (US)$500 and $1,600.  Annual storage fees can be as high as $200.  Women are informed it's best to collect and store menstrual blood while they're young because young stem cells are "more robust" than older cells.  Baby teeth will cost you a $595 membership fee (family discounts available) and a $89 annual service fee.  Bio-Eden helps to spread the news of its services through dentists, schools and PTAs with a standing bounty of $100 a tooth produced through their referral.  For the most part, the parents who are all in for stem cell banks do it because, well, it's only money and maybe, just maybe, medical science will be able to create a cure for a disease they or their children have.  In the meantime it's just money and, as one customer said, "the idea is just to have them ... once you get sick, it's too late."